Current Electricity

Flashcards covering key concepts and terms related to current electricity.

Electric Current

The flow of electric charge in a conductor.

Drift Velocity

The average velocity that a charge carrier, such as an electron, attains due to an electric field.

Current Density

The amount of electric current flowing per unit area of a conductor.

Ohm's Law

The relationship between voltage (V), current (I), and resistance (R) expressed as V = IR.

V-I Graph

A graph showing the relationship between voltage and current for a specific conductor.

Resistance

The opposition to the flow of electric current, measured in ohms (Ω).

Ohmic Devices

Devices that obey Ohm's law, where resistance remains constant regardless of the voltage and current.

Non-Ohmic Devices

Devices where the current-voltage relationship is not linear, and resistance varies with voltage or current.

Electrical Resistivity

The measure of a material's ability to resist the flow of electric current, typically represented by ρ (ohm-meter).

Temperature Coefficient of Resistance

A measure of how much the resistance of a material changes with a change in temperature.

Kirchhoff's Current Rule (KCL)

The total current entering a junction equals the total current leaving the junction.

Kirchhoff's Voltage Rule (KVL)

The sum of the electrical potential differences (voltage) around any closed network is zero.

Wheatstone's Bridge

A circuit used to measure unknown electrical resistances by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit.

Joule's Law of Heating

The principle stating that the heat produced in a conductor by an electric current is proportional to the square of the current, R, and the time the current flows.

Seebeck Effect

The phenomenon where a voltage is generated in a circuit made of two different metals when their junctions are maintained at different temperatures.

Peltier Effect

The effect where an electric current passing through a thermocouple leads to heating at one junction and cooling at the other.

Thomson Effect

The effect where a temperature difference in a conductor causes a potential difference.

Mobility

The ability of charge carriers to move through a conductor when subjected to an electric field.